A Hong Kong Proxy War In The Making?

The risk of a proxy war in Hong Kong, between the Chinese Communist Party and the West has greatly increased in late 2019. The global economy is slowing. A weak U.S./Europe alliance is being challenged by a Beijing emboldened by its hard-line success in Xinjiang. Battle lines are once again being drawn between liberal and authoritarian forces.

As China has been modernizing trade routes into Europe it has disrupted ethnic groups in its north-west, Xinjiang region, like the Uyghurs and ethnic Turks. In 2009 people from these groups were responsible for riots and terrorist attacks. China, believing the attacks would only escalate, sent in the army and police after 2010. Since then, China has been building re-education camps, and installing cameras and policemen on every block.

Additionally, China is developing advanced spying technologies to monitor every person’s electronic devices. China’s goal is to “educate” all young people to respect and follow the Chinese government. Estimates of how many people are in the education camps varies from hundreds of thousands to 1.5 million. Naturally, the Chinese government admits there are some camps but does not discuss the extent, or ultimate end-game. The best guess is that once China has worked out the bugs in its surveillance and policing system it will release the Uyghurs back into their communities where they can…